3/23/2009 @ 4:00PM

Taylor Twellman's Fantasy Career

Taylor Twellman, the star forward for Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution, was born to play baseball.

He grew up in St. Louis a devout fan of the hallowed Cardinals. His grandfather, Jim Delsing, played in Major League Baseball for 10 seasons and won two World Series’ as a member of the New York Yankees. Twellman played soccer and baseball in high school. He so excelled as a shortstop there that he was offered a baseball contract by the Kansas City Royals.

But he turned it down to attend the University of Maryland in 1998, on a baseball scholarship.

Funny thing is, it turns out that Twellman, 29, wasn’t too bad with a ball at his feet either. His first year at Maryland, before baseball season, he played on the soccer team and won Soccer America’s National Freshman of the Year honors. He became so valuable to the soccer team that he never played an inning of baseball for the Terrapins. After his sophomore season, he left to play for 1860 Munich, a professional team in Germany. In 2001 he was drafted by the New England Revolution. Since then he has become one of the top scorers in MLS, with 99 goals in seven seasons, and won league MVP in 2005. He has made 30 appearances on the U.S. Men’s National Team.

But Twellman never truly left the sport of baseball.

“I often wonder what would have happened if I had given baseball a real chance,” he says.

So how does he satisfy that jones? Fantasy baseball, of course. Twellman just might be the most avid fantasy baseball player among all professional athletes in the U.S.

“I’ve been playing since back when we had to get calculate the stats from newspapers,” he says.

Twellman runs a league for his soccer teammates and another for his friends at home. The “friend” league is more hardcore, but the “teammate” league, he says, is more fun.

“I see these guys every day,” he says. “The trash-talking is great.”

Twellman, whose team name is “Frank & Beans,” won that league back in 2002. “It was the best feeling in the world,” he says. Pat Noonan, a Columbus Crew striker who grew up with Twellman and has played fantasy baseball with him for the past three years, says, “It’s safe to say that he’s pretty intense about it.”

Twellman believes his time spent on the real baseball diamond gives him an advantage on the virtual one.

“Having played, I think I can see some intangibles in a player that others who didn’t play might miss,” he says.

Tips From the Top

Twellman prides himself on always having a good player from his old position of shortstop, the catalyst for a great team.

“Back in the day,” he says, “I always had Nomar Garciaparra or Alex Rodriguez,” two former superstar shortstops who now play other positions. His strategy for building a team is based on drafting the best player at a position, not just the best player available.

“Having the best catcher is better than having the sixth-best outfielder,” he says.

His other tips: Don’t draft just based on name and reputation. Instead, look for the unheralded player who is playing well. And watch out for first-year phenoms entering their second year in the majors.

“It’s not that they will necessarily slump,” he says, “but to expect them to progress is unrealistic.”

Twellman also believes that the good fantasy team owner has to sometimes put personal feelings aside when it comes to owning a player.

“I hate Barry Bonds, but I drafted him in 2004 and he was great for my team,” he says. Due to his heritage, he also always has a Cardinal on his team, preferably the star first-baseman, Albert Pujols.

Twellman is out with an injury to his neck until April, so he’s had more time to prepare this year for the fantasy season.

But he better beware. Noonan, who says his team name is “not fit for the public,” has his eye on Pujols.